Monday, 16 February 2015
The Ideal Length for Blog Posts, Tweets, and Everything Else in Your Marketing
to cover.
I bet if you starting teaching me how to take great pictures, and we recorded and transcribed the conversation, it would be many thousands of words eventually.
If the things you write tend to be short, don’t fluff them up. Try choosing bigger topics. Hope this helps, Abbie!
Reply to Andy Crestodina (@crestodina)
John Zakaria 10/20/14 @ 6:03AM
Hi Andy,
I really appreciate your article as you discussed very important guidlines for content marketing recommended length for every kind of content and this is what i follow when i come to write articles i keep them as longer as i can to rank them faster and for emails “it is the first time to know the recommended length in your article”
Reply to John Zakaria
Waqas Butt 10/30/14 @ 5:35PM
ok its mean we are now write for seo not for users. Research is totally based on major giants which are always on top in google. They always on top because of their strength.
Reply to Waqas Butt
Paige Worthy 2/03/15 @ 10:35AM
Hi Andy! Our team spent the majority of our weekly call talking about blog post length today… Your quote at the end here really sums it up for me: “Every piece of content should be as long as it takes to convey the message, and no longer.”
Arbitrary word lengths serve no one! Thanks for another great post.
Reply to Paige Worthy
Andy Crestodina (@crestodina) 2/03/15 @ 10:57AM
Yes, that last sentence is the most important point. It originally said “Every piece of content should be as long as it takes to convey the message, and NOT A WORD longer” …but then I shortened it. :)
Reply to Andy Crestodina (@crestodina)
Zeeshan Parvez 2/11/15 @ 4:03AM
Genius!
Reply to Zeeshan Parvez
Ahmad Fahrurroji 2/13/15 @ 11:20PM
It is an amazing post, your explanation is very detailed and I love it. However, my problem is I can only write articles for maximum up to 1,000 words. Hopefully I can reach targets more than that.
Thank you Andy for sharing.
Reply to Ahmad Fahrurroji
Categories
Analytics
Digital Strategy
Inside Orbit
SEO & Content Marketing
Social Media
Uncategorized
Web Development
Website Design & Usability
Search Blog
I bet if you starting teaching me how to take great pictures, and we recorded and transcribed the conversation, it would be many thousands of words eventually.
If the things you write tend to be short, don’t fluff them up. Try choosing bigger topics. Hope this helps, Abbie!
Reply to Andy Crestodina (@crestodina)
John Zakaria 10/20/14 @ 6:03AM
Hi Andy,
I really appreciate your article as you discussed very important guidlines for content marketing recommended length for every kind of content and this is what i follow when i come to write articles i keep them as longer as i can to rank them faster and for emails “it is the first time to know the recommended length in your article”
Reply to John Zakaria
Waqas Butt 10/30/14 @ 5:35PM
ok its mean we are now write for seo not for users. Research is totally based on major giants which are always on top in google. They always on top because of their strength.
Reply to Waqas Butt
Paige Worthy 2/03/15 @ 10:35AM
Hi Andy! Our team spent the majority of our weekly call talking about blog post length today… Your quote at the end here really sums it up for me: “Every piece of content should be as long as it takes to convey the message, and no longer.”
Arbitrary word lengths serve no one! Thanks for another great post.
Reply to Paige Worthy
Andy Crestodina (@crestodina) 2/03/15 @ 10:57AM
Yes, that last sentence is the most important point. It originally said “Every piece of content should be as long as it takes to convey the message, and NOT A WORD longer” …but then I shortened it. :)
Reply to Andy Crestodina (@crestodina)
Zeeshan Parvez 2/11/15 @ 4:03AM
Genius!
Reply to Zeeshan Parvez
Ahmad Fahrurroji 2/13/15 @ 11:20PM
It is an amazing post, your explanation is very detailed and I love it. However, my problem is I can only write articles for maximum up to 1,000 words. Hopefully I can reach targets more than that.
Thank you Andy for sharing.
Reply to Ahmad Fahrurroji
Categories
Analytics
Digital Strategy
Inside Orbit
SEO & Content Marketing
Social Media
Uncategorized
Web Development
Website Design & Usability
Search Blog
3 Essential Local SEO Strategies To Use Post-Pigeon Update
Global SEO updates like Panda and Penguin changed fundamental ranking processes across the board, but one of Google’s latest changes, deemed the “Pigeon” update, has made an impact on a much more local
level. The Pigeon update, designed to give users a better search
experience when looking for local businesses, has put a stop to some old
local SEO tactics while paving the way for a handful of new ones.
Google now favors the information found on local directory sites, such as Yelp, with more weight, and uses more offsite information to generate immediate local search results. If you’re running a local business and you want to stay ahead of your competitors, start implementing these three new local SEO strategies:
1. Ensure Data Accuracy and Consistency Across the Web.
Now, more than ever, Google is cracking down on local businesses whose information is inconsistent or difficult to verify, and rewarding local businesses with clear, concise, and easily-available information. Your first and most important tactic should be to peruse the Web for mentions of your business and claim new profiles on local directories. Mentions of your NAP (business Name, Address, and Phone Number) are becoming major local ranking signals, so the more instances of that information there are across the web, and the more consistent that information is, the better.
Your first step is to claim your local profile pages on every local directory you can find (or at least the ones that are relevant for your business). Google+ and Yelp are must-haves for almost any business, while other sites like TripAdvisor and UrbanSpoon are dependent on your specific niche. Most of these sites allow you to claim your local profile for free and take charge of updating it with accurate information and images. Yext provides a tool to easily check many of the major directories, and also shows you how your NAP information appears on each one, highlighting any inconsistencies.
Quantity is significant; the more instances of your data appearing on the Web, the better. But the more important factor here is consistency. Google notices when your NAP information is in the same format, and it will reward you if that format is exactly repeated across each platform. However, any discrepancy—even changing the word “road” to the abbreviation “rd”—could register as an inconsistency, and weaken the impact of your efforts.
Once you’ve completed an initial round of claiming and cleanup, you can start your regular ongoing efforts. Once a month or so, do a routine check of your local profiles and see what other opportunities there are for you to update your information or claim new profiles on up-and-coming platforms. It’s also a good idea to include your NAP (consistent, as always) on other forms of external posts, such as press releases and guest blogs.
2. Drive Your Customers to Google+ and Yelp (and Similar Local Directories).
The Pigeon update did more than just boost rankings for sites with consistent information across the web. Possibly in response to an accusation that Yelp pages and reviews were not treated favorably in Google’s algorithm, Google updated their ranking structure to improve Yelp page ranking positions. For some small businesses, Yelp review pages actually started ranking higher than the company’s website.
This new ranking system has been seen as interference by some business owners, diverting traffic away from their companies’ webpages. However, it also represents a key opportunity. If more people are visiting Yelp to help make purchasing decisions, and Google wants more people to go to Yelp, all you have to do is spend more time getting people to go to your specific Yelp page.
Google now favors the information found on local directory sites, such as Yelp, with more weight, and uses more offsite information to generate immediate local search results. If you’re running a local business and you want to stay ahead of your competitors, start implementing these three new local SEO strategies:
1. Ensure Data Accuracy and Consistency Across the Web.
Now, more than ever, Google is cracking down on local businesses whose information is inconsistent or difficult to verify, and rewarding local businesses with clear, concise, and easily-available information. Your first and most important tactic should be to peruse the Web for mentions of your business and claim new profiles on local directories. Mentions of your NAP (business Name, Address, and Phone Number) are becoming major local ranking signals, so the more instances of that information there are across the web, and the more consistent that information is, the better.
Your first step is to claim your local profile pages on every local directory you can find (or at least the ones that are relevant for your business). Google+ and Yelp are must-haves for almost any business, while other sites like TripAdvisor and UrbanSpoon are dependent on your specific niche. Most of these sites allow you to claim your local profile for free and take charge of updating it with accurate information and images. Yext provides a tool to easily check many of the major directories, and also shows you how your NAP information appears on each one, highlighting any inconsistencies.
Quantity is significant; the more instances of your data appearing on the Web, the better. But the more important factor here is consistency. Google notices when your NAP information is in the same format, and it will reward you if that format is exactly repeated across each platform. However, any discrepancy—even changing the word “road” to the abbreviation “rd”—could register as an inconsistency, and weaken the impact of your efforts.
Once you’ve completed an initial round of claiming and cleanup, you can start your regular ongoing efforts. Once a month or so, do a routine check of your local profiles and see what other opportunities there are for you to update your information or claim new profiles on up-and-coming platforms. It’s also a good idea to include your NAP (consistent, as always) on other forms of external posts, such as press releases and guest blogs.
2. Drive Your Customers to Google+ and Yelp (and Similar Local Directories).
The Pigeon update did more than just boost rankings for sites with consistent information across the web. Possibly in response to an accusation that Yelp pages and reviews were not treated favorably in Google’s algorithm, Google updated their ranking structure to improve Yelp page ranking positions. For some small businesses, Yelp review pages actually started ranking higher than the company’s website.
This new ranking system has been seen as interference by some business owners, diverting traffic away from their companies’ webpages. However, it also represents a key opportunity. If more people are visiting Yelp to help make purchasing decisions, and Google wants more people to go to Yelp, all you have to do is spend more time getting people to go to your specific Yelp page.
5 crazy SEO mistakes not to make in WordPress
There’s a nasty rumor going around that WordPress is beautifully set up
for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) “out of the box.” We're all fans of
WordPress - but the core software does need a little nudge in the right
direction when it comes to SEO.
In reality, if your idea of optimizing your WordPress stops at
hitting Publish on your latest post, you’re missing out on a lot of
potential. But even those of you who feel that you are doing quite a lot
in terms of onsite optimization are probably making at least one of the
following mistakes (I know I certainly have done in the past).
So take a few moments to digest the following common SEO mistakes made by WordPress users - I’ll be offering straightforward solutions to each one!
1) Not Providing an XML Sitemap
Sitemaps are a way to tell Google about pages on your site we might not otherwise discover.I have a simple rule of thumb when it comes to learning new SEO strategies - if I hear it on the grapevine I take it with a hefty pinch of salt, but if I hear it from Google I take it as gospel. That’s why my position regarding sitemaps is simple: if Google says it helps them to find pages on your site that they may not otherwise discover, I’m going to give them one.
But that’s not all there is to sitemaps. They can also be used to supply additional information about your website (such as how often you expect pages to be updated) and meta data relating to specific media types (such as the running time of a video). And if you are running a new site or one with only a handful backlinks pointing towards it, a sitemap can make a big difference in enabling Google to discover and index all of the relevant pages on your website.
In simple terms, a sitemap is simply a specifically formatted list of the pages on your site that you would like to be indexed by the search engines. You could create one manually if you like carrying out jobs that can be automated with ease. Otherwise I have a couple of suggestions:
Google XML Sitemaps: with over ten million downloads and an average rating of 4.7 out of 5, you can rest assured that this free plugin gets the job done.
WordPress SEO by Yoast: this free plugin has a number of SEO-related functions, one of which is an excellent XML sitemap generator.
The process of building an updating a sitemap is almost entirely automated. You set a few options as you see fit then let the plugin do the rest. Google says that “[most] webmasters will benefit from sitemap submission, and in no case will you be penalized for it.” With that in mind, why wouldn’t you create a sitemap for your WordPress website?
2) Poor Categorization and Tagging
Few things bug me more than sites that do not utilize categories and tags (sometimes referred to collectively as taxonomies) properly. The simple fact is that categories and tags offer opportunities for increased engagement and traffic, but the bigger issue at hand is that poor use of categories and tags can actually persuade a visitor to leave your site.This is what you need to know about WordPress taxonomies: if categories are your table of contents, tags are your index When people try to tell me that tags are useless, I ask them of how many non-fiction books they have read that don’t have an index (I just checked five on my bookshelf and discovered that only one of them doesn’t).
Conscientious categorization and tagging of your posts will not only make it easier for visitors to find what they want (assuming of course you create an Archives page that makes accessing categories and tags simple) but it will also boost your onsite SEO. While Google may not rank category and tag pages high in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) (although it certainly does happen), it will be able to get a much better grasp on the keywords that are most relevant to your site by examining them.
Let me give you an example. Say for instance you run a site about zoo animals which has a particular focus on llamas. If you have a tag page for llamas that links to various pages and has various pages linking back to it, that is a strong indicator to Google that llamas are kind of a big deal on your site.
If you want to know more about how to categorize and tag effectively, click here
3) Not Defining Canonical URLs
If you have never heard about canonicalization before then brace yourself - it can be a slightly confusing concept. In order to define it effectively I will turn to Matt Cutts, Google’s Head of Search:Canonicalization is the process of picking the best URL when there are several choices, and it usually refers to home pages. For example, most people would consider these the same urls:Put simply, if you don’t tell Google and friends which version of a page to index and rank, they’re going to try to figure it out themselves. The last thing you want is search engines having to pick from multiple instances what is essentially the exact same page. The solution is to provide them with a canonical URL.But technically all of these URLs are different. A web server could return completely different content for all them. When Google “canonicalizes” a URL, we try to pick the one that seems like the best representative from that set.
- www.example.com
- example.com/
- www.example.com/index.html
- example.com/home.asp
This is essentially a three step process:
- Tell WordPress how to present your site (i.e. http://www.yoursite.com/ or http://yoursite.com/).
- Tell Google (using Webmaster Tools) which URL type you want them to use.
- Use a plugin (such as the aforementioned WordPress SEO by Yoast) to ensure that canonical URLs are defined on each page of your site.
4) Not Optimizing Your Site for Google+ Authorship
Update: As of August 2014 Google no longer shows Google authorship results in its SERPs. So, while for now, using the rel=author markup will not improve your visibility in search results Google's John Muller states that they will continue to experiment with implementing structured markup. He goes on to state that:"It’s also worth mentioning that Search users will still see Google+ posts from friends and pages when they’re relevant to the query — both in the main results, and on the right-hand side. Today’s authorship change doesn’t impact these social features."Like it or not, Google+ is here to stay. You may be surprised to know that it is the second biggest social network behind Facebook, beating the likes of YouTube and Twitter.
But I’m not here to talk about social media strategization. Instead I want to focus on the concept of Google+ authorship and how it can be utilized to strengthen your position in the SERPs and boost click through rates.
If you’ve not heard of Google+ authorship before, you’ve almost certainly seen it. Every search result in Google that incorporates a profile photo of the author is an example. Astonishingly, that little photo has been proven to boost clickthrough rates in the SERPs by 150%. Further, an experiment by Cyrus Shepard from Moz resulted in an additional 56% increase in clickthroughs. In short, by incorporating Google+ authorship on your site, you can attract more search engine traffic with the same rankings.
Getting Google to verify your authorship is not an entirely straightforward process but it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes and will subsequently offer you ongoing benefits. In short, it’s well worth doing. My favorite tutorial is by WPBeginner.
5) Not Optimizing How Your Posts Look in the SERPs
This mistake is similar to the previous one regarding Google+ authorship, as it relates to your clickthrough rate in the SERPs.It is borne out of an ignorance of the importance of what searchers see on Google as opposed to simply where they see it. Although the placement of a website on the SERPs (ie, 1 - 10) is a key factor, people can often be drawn to lower rankings if the titles and/or descriptions are compelling. That is why you should optimize each of your posts to give yourself the best possible chance of attracting a good clickthrough rate.
There are two things that you should concern yourself with:
-
The Meta Title: this is what will display on the SERPs in place of any headline you choose for the post onsite.
-
The Meta Description: Google may choose to use this in place of an
excerpt from your post (which can often be nothing more than a confusing
mass of words).
What Mistakes Have You Made?
Let’s face it - we’re not perfect. If you haven’t made a few SEO blunders in your time then you’re simply not trying hard enough. In reality, this post could be called, “Top 5 SEO Mistakes I Have Made With WordPress.”Join Wordtracker on social media
Why not join the conversation and follow Wordtracker? We're on Twitter, Facebook and Google PlusGet a free 7-day trial
A subscription to Wordtracker's premium Keywords tool will help you to:- Generate thousands of relevant keywords to improve your organic and PPC search campaigns.
- Optimize your website content by using the most popular keywords for your product and services.
- Research online markets, find niche opportunities and exploit them before your competitors.
Post Panda/Penguin SEO Strategy for Bloggers
Last year (2011) when Google Panda rolled out, many Bloggers expected it like just another Google algorithm change but honestly it changed the Blogging industry big time. Every professional Blogger has to re-work on their strategies. I have already shared a guide on how to recover from Google panda and for people who are badly struck with new Google Panda algorithm, I also offer personal Panda recovery consultancy.One thing, which people have talked about after Panda updates is, SEO is not relevant and now it’s dead and believe it, SEO is not dead and it never will. SEO is basically a quality guidelines and set of rules a Website and a Webpage should follow to meet Google SEO guidelines.
What is SEO In Post Panda World:
Before 2011, SEO and domain value used to be an important factor but it never used to be ranking factor for complete domain. After panda updates, many things changed and one of them is domain level penalty. Earlier, few shallow and low quality pages only impact particular posts and not complete domain but now in post panda SEO world(Post Penguin now), this has changed. Few low quality posts on your pages may impact the complete domain ranking and you will notice no traffic on your recent posts and traffic drop back to back. Instead of thinking Google to fix your site SEO, you should be thinking what is one thing that you did wrong, which impacted your site. I’m sharing panda SEO guide for people who are starting a new website or blog now and want to make sure Panda updates will never impact their blog.Post Panda SEO Strategies:
I’m not including basic SEO steps which you should do, as I expect you to take care of all basic SEO optimization tips. I tried to link to as much as relevant post to get things done but if you still have any questions, feel free to ask via comments.
Content Quality:
Let me start with the basic of SEO and that is your quality content.
If you are writing a post which is not very useful, doesn’t cover
complete information and doesn’t contain proper Keyword, related
Keywords and so on, chances are your content might not be seen as
quality one. One easy way to do is, simply search for your target
Keyword and see if your post contain more values than existing post on
the web. If not, it’s time to cover all missing points and make your
content useful.I know many of your might hate SEO and feel like it’s useless, but post panda world you need to develop a proper content generation strategy. Keyword research should be an essential part of it. You can use Mind map tools initially and SEMRUSh to create a list of such Keywords which are related to your domain, and then work on it. Do keep in mind, it’s not only about good content but it should be great content.
Needless to say, Onpage SEO optimization is going to play major roles and make sure your content contains LSI word. If you are using WordPress you should start using Keyword optimization plugin like EasyWPSEO, which not only show LSI Words, but also show the readability of content.
Also take care of other factors like Typos, Grammar and level of reading (Readability), which also started affecting ranking of pages and domain. Another tip which I can give you is start with Video blogging and try to add videos or slides into your post, which will make it more meaningful and useful.
Becoming more Social:
Google plus your world is
the best hint which you should get from Google directly, about getting
more social. Now there are tons of Websites and it’s always a good idea
to get mention on as much as social media sites. But from my experience,
I have seen getting more social on sites like Google plus, Twitter, Digg, Delicious and
Facebook will help you more. Out of all this, Google plus is something
which will impact your search engine placement a lot. Specially, if you
are getting hundreds of Google pluses, you can imagine what will be the
reachability of your post in a social group.
Site SEO Structure:
Earlier we know more pages we have in Google, better it is for us. But considering SEO post panda,
it’s important that only important pages of your blog is indexed. Else
your pages might land into supplement results. Instead of using
Robots.txt, I would suggest use noindex tag. Try to keep only those
pages indexed, which actually helps readers and search engine both.Add proper meta title, description and also take care of site navigation and structure. Put all important links in your navigation bars, which will also help you in Google site links to important pages of your site. Apart from that follow all traditional SEO tips like Submitting Sitemap, add robots.txt and so on.
Outbound links:
We have already discussed about importance of outbound links
and I have been constantly talking about the same. I have already given
one example of bad outbound links in my earlier post on Blog comments.
When you are linking to relevant and useful pages from your blog post,
it increases the quality of your page and it’s seen as more valued page
from SEO perspective. Also, from reader perspective adding outbound
links to useful pages helps a lot. If you are not so experience with
this, try using Zemanta plugin.
Make your site Social:
Your strategy is not to get only social media share, but make your
site social too. Keep your site presence everywhere for example:
Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and any other social media site which is
relevant to your niche. For example, a Fashion, health and Facebook
niche blogger can target site like Pinterest. Add relevant widgets on your site and for newbies, here are some guide which you can refer to get started.
Quality link building over quantity backlinks:
Google recently taken down all the private blog networks
and links going out from it. If you are new to private blog networks,
in simple word a person/company creates 100 or more blogs on different
niche and start back linking which ultimately end up creating a link
farm.Now, you may not ignore our 101 tips to create quality backlinks, but also I suggest to focus more on quality of backlinks. When you are getting natural backlinks from relevant domain, it’s always a good and the best link. As I mentioned above, quality content is the best weapon which you have for post Panda SEO and quality stuff will help in getting quality links to your site. Needless to say Social media share also going to boost your ranking at great level.
Focus on your Analytics:
Couple of days back I was giving Panda recovery consultancy to one of popular Malaysian blogger and I realize he removed the Google analytics from
his blog, as he fears that Google uses analytic data to track and rank
your site and certainly this is a myth. Google ranking factors depend on
many metrics and having Google analytics or any other web stats program
is going to help and analyze your pages. Pages, which are not
performing well, you can always edit it and optimize for better
performance.Specially keep an eye on pages which have high bounce rate, low avg. time on page and high exit rate. Use content strategy and develop related content associated with it. Follow my bounce rate guide to decrease bounce rate and let the reader stick to your blog.
Duplicate Content Strategies:
Google is now very strict about duplicate content and I found them little dumb when handling duplicate content from real blog
and a copied paste blog. My suggestion is to follow a strategy which
will help you to fight those Auto RSS blogs. Here are few things which I
do and you should: Use RSS footer plugin and keep your feed as partial. Learn how you can report copied pages to Google and remove them from Search. Also, integrate TYNT script
which is going to be really helpful to get free back-links from people
who are copying a part of text, image or long sentence on your blog.Well, this is not all but start looking into all the factors which Google has implemented lately for example: Page layout algo, Page speed algo, private blog networks and so on. Traditional SEO of your site remains the same but now the major different is quality of your pages along with quality of over all domain. Here is an interesting guide from hubspot, which talks about things to avoid in post panda SEO strategies. Here are some more links from Web, which I have found useful and worth reading:
Honestly, it’s impossible to lay down all the strategy in a single post but I have tried marking all those important factor for SEO post panda, which everyone should start considering. I will keep updating new Panda SEO strategies and changes which you should bring on your blog to beat out panda. You can subscribe to my Email newsletter for instant updates.
Also, let me know what strategy you are following for SEO post panda world? If you find this post useful, don’t forget to give us Google plus and share it on Facebook.
10 SEO Blog Post Publishing Steps that Most Bloggers Forget
I see this time and time again.
As people get started with blogging, they think it’s as simple as clicking, “Add New Post,” typing up a few paragraphs, and clicking, “Publish.”
Then they hopelessly wait for views, comments, and tweets. No one comes. No one comments. No one tweets.
They do this three or four times and eventually write off blogging as, “not it’s all hyped up to be.”
After writing for Michael for a few months now, I can tell you that there are dozens of small blogging nuances that we work into nearly every post.
Here are 10 of the most popular SEO blog post publishing steps that bloggers tend to forget.
To figure this out, I do two things:
I want this post to rank for “seo blog post publishing steps” (click to see how it’s doing).
For more clarification on this tip, read this comment below.
When you type a headline, WordPress generates the post slug by placing every word in the headline into the slug. This clutters it up with lots of small words.
Instead, change your post slug to your primary keyword.
Default: IncomeDiary.com/10-seo-blog-post-publishing-steps-that-most-bloggers-forget/
Ideal: IncomeDiary.com/seo-blog-post-publishing-steps/
If blogging is a big portion of your business, start making videos for your posts, upload them to your channel, and embed them in the actual post.
If you’re still dabbling in blogging, consider embedding other peoples’ videos in your posts.
When a search engine robot hits a page, it reads the headline/title tag first. Then it reads the H2, H3, and H4 tags.
When you add subheadings to your content, proper HTML is:
Note: The headline/title tag should be automatically wrapped in As people get started with blogging, they think it’s as simple as clicking, “Add New Post,” typing up a few paragraphs, and clicking, “Publish.”
Then they hopelessly wait for views, comments, and tweets. No one comes. No one comments. No one tweets.
They do this three or four times and eventually write off blogging as, “not it’s all hyped up to be.”
After writing for Michael for a few months now, I can tell you that there are dozens of small blogging nuances that we work into nearly every post.
Here are 10 of the most popular SEO blog post publishing steps that bloggers tend to forget.
Table of Contents
1. Keyword Research
Before I write a single word, I figure out if it’s something that people are asking about. And if they are, I want to know if the internet is already saturated with that type of content.To figure this out, I do two things:
- Google’s Keyword Tool – I look up the words I believe people would search for to find the post I plan on writing.
- Google – I google those keywords to see the actual competition.
I want this post to rank for “seo blog post publishing steps” (click to see how it’s doing).
For more clarification on this tip, read this comment below.
2. Fine-Tuning the Headline
Here’s my formula for crafting headlines for list posts:[#][keyword][ curiosity-capturing phrase]For title tag SEO, your goal is to place the keyword as near to the front of the headline as possible:
- Top 10 Motivational YouTube Videos for Entrepreneurs
- 20 Great Google Chrome Extensions for Online Entrepreneurs
- 20 Best Designed Pricing Comparison Tables
3. Post Slug
The post slug is what shows up after the domain for every post or page.When you type a headline, WordPress generates the post slug by placing every word in the headline into the slug. This clutters it up with lots of small words.
Instead, change your post slug to your primary keyword.
Default: IncomeDiary.com/10-seo-blog-post-publishing-steps-that-most-bloggers-forget/
Ideal: IncomeDiary.com/seo-blog-post-publishing-steps/
4. Images
We all know that images grab your attention, break up the content, and supplement your ideas. But they also add great SEO benefits, as long as you follow these steps:- Save your images as [keyword-phrase.png] before you upload them to your site.
- Add alt text as [keyword phrase].
- Add title tag as [keyword phrase].
5. Relevant Videos
Google understands that adding a video to a blog post makes it a more complete resource. If they haven’t already boosting blog posts with videos, they will eventually.If blogging is a big portion of your business, start making videos for your posts, upload them to your channel, and embed them in the actual post.
If you’re still dabbling in blogging, consider embedding other peoples’ videos in your posts.
6. Subheads
Similar to images, subheadings break up the content and make blog posts easier to read. They also have big-time SEO benefits.When a search engine robot hits a page, it reads the headline/title tag first. Then it reads the H2, H3, and H4 tags.
When you add subheadings to your content, proper HTML is:
Subhead Level 1
Subhead Level 2
Subhead Level 3
.
So… Stop simply bolding and italicizing your subheads.
7. Interlinking
Another important step that most people forget is interlinking between posts.Before you publish a new post, read through it and try to find two-three opportunities to naturally link back to relevant posts on your blog.
This keeps both readers and search spiders on your site longer.
8. External Linking
Also, look for opportunities to link to other bloggers. The SEO benefits of external linking are unclear, but Neil Patel says:“Did you know that an external links going out to these high authority sites can boost your SEO? When search engines crawl your site and see a link and follow it to CNN or Huffington Post, they weight it as a positive. The trick is to find organic ways to link to these sites, like I did in this post.”Linking to other sites is also a good way to build relationships with other bloggers.
I’ve received two “thank you” emails from important people because I chose to link to their sites on IncomeDiary posts.
I linked to Pat’s site on: 10 Blog Posts that Made an Everlasting Impact on Me
I linked to Giancarlo’s site on: 10 Weird Ways Big Companies Make Money Online
Bloggers notice and appreciate backlinks.
9. Meta Data
Whether or not Google still looks at meta keywords is up for debate, but the meta description is definitely still used.In a search result, your meta description often shows up as the little blurb beneath the blue link. In writing your meta description, you need to keep three things in mind:
- It needs to be fewer than 155 characters so Google will display the whole description.
- It needs to include your keywords because Google bolds them in search results.
- It should be an actual sentence from the post because people look for that sentence once they arrive.
10. Call to Action
The final step is the call-to-action. As with any piece of marketing material, a blog post should be designed to get someone to do something.Here are a few popular calls to action:
- Comment – You can encourage people to comment by ending the post with a thought-provoking question or simply asking them to let you know what they think.
- Share – “If you liked this post, tweet it out.”
- Implement – I believe the best result of any blog post is for a reader to take your advice and implement it.
Now you have a choice. You can comment, share, or implement. I prefer if you implement, but I’ll appreciate all three.
5 Ways to Optimize Your Blog Posts for SEO
If
you have a blog, chances are you already understand the importance of
business blogging. But do you know how to optimize your blog posts to
make them more search engine friendly?
The truth is, many bloggers fail to take advantage of the enormous marketing potential of their blogs. In fact, a recent study by blogger.com shows that although roughly 60% of businesses have blogs, 65% of those blog owners haven’t even updated in the past year! By providing fresh, relevant content and performing basic blog post optimization, you can take advantage of the many benefits blogging offers
Here are six easy search engine optimization (SEO) tips to help get your blog noticed.
Too busy to keep up with your blog optimization? We’ve got you covered. OpenVine’s search engine optimization experts can help you get more prominent positioning on search engine results pages.
The truth is, many bloggers fail to take advantage of the enormous marketing potential of their blogs. In fact, a recent study by blogger.com shows that although roughly 60% of businesses have blogs, 65% of those blog owners haven’t even updated in the past year! By providing fresh, relevant content and performing basic blog post optimization, you can take advantage of the many benefits blogging offers
Here are six easy search engine optimization (SEO) tips to help get your blog noticed.
- Do your research. Keyword research is essential for on page optimization. Chances are you are naturally including keywords without realizing it simply by providing valuable content on a topic. However, there are a variety of tools and techniques for finding related keywords relevant to your blog post that you may not have considered. The Google Adwords Keyword Tool and semrush.com both offer great tools that allow you to find keywords related to your topic and even spy on your competition to see what words and phrases they are targeting to bring traffic to their sites.
- Utilize keywords throughout your post. Once you
have targeted a couple of valuable, relevant keywords, it is important
to place them where they will have the most impact for humans and search
engine crawlers indexing your content. Try to include them in the
following places:
- Title
- Headings and subheadings
- Introductory sentence
- Concluding paragraph
- Anchor text (text you hyperlink to other related pages on your site)
- Title tags and meta descriptions
- Optimize your images. Whenever you upload a photo to your blog, be sure to include keywords in the file name and fill out the alternate text field with a brief, keyword rich description of the photo.
- Reference others with links. When you mention another blogger or article in your blog post, include a link to the information you are referencing. Not only is it good blogging etiquette, but you may also get lucky and receive a link back. Quality links are a valuable commodity for any site looking to rank higher in search engine results pages.
- Give readers the opportunity to subscribe to your blog. Include prominently placed RSS or Feed Subscription Buttons and offer viewers the ability to subscribe to your posts via email when possible. This allows your blog followers to have instant notification of your latest posts without having to periodically check your site for new content.
- Use social media to broaden the reach of your blog posts. As a small business, you may be utilizing Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or other social media sites to create connections with potential and current customers. Why not promote your blog content on these sites for even more web exposure? Free programs like Hootsuite make it easy to post links to your latest blog post on all of your social media sites with just a couple of clicks. You can even schedule your posts ahead of time!
Too busy to keep up with your blog optimization? We’ve got you covered. OpenVine’s search engine optimization experts can help you get more prominent positioning on search engine results pages.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)